Botanical Index No. 787

Perilla

perilla frutescens

Medicinal Actions

Allergenic, Analgesic, Antibacterial, Anticancer, Antidote, Antimelanomic, Antinephrotic, Antioxidant, Antiproliferant, Antipyretic, Antiseptic, Antispasmodic, Antitussive, Antiulcer, Carminative, Cyanogenic, Cytotoxic, Diaphoretic, Diuretic, Expectorant, Fungicide, Hypocholesterolemic, Hypotensive, Hypotriglyceridemic, Immunostimulant, Lipolytic, Peristaltic, Piscicide, Sedative, Stomachic, Tonic

Primary Conditions Treated

Aldose-Reductase-Inhibitor crab fish Emollient Pectoral Poison Alzheimer’s Arthrosis Asthma Bacteria Bite Bronchosis Cancer breast skin Cataract Chest Childbirth Chill Cholera Cold Constipation Cough Cramp Dyspepsia Dyspnea Edema Enterosis Escherichia Fever Flu Fungus Glomerulonephrosis Gout Headache Heatstroke Hiccup High Blood Pressure High Cholesterol High Triglycerides Immunodepression Infection Insomnia Malaria Mastosis Melanoma Morning Sickness Mucososis Mycosis Nausea Nephrosis Nervousness Obesity Pain Pregnancy Pulmonosis Respirosis Rheumatism Rhinosis Salmonella Sclerosis Snakebite Spasm Spermatorrhea Splenosis Staphylococcus Stomatosis Streptococcus Swelling Ulcer Uterosis Vibrio Wart Wound

General Dosage

3–10 g seed; 4.5–9 g seed; 3–9 g leaf; 3–10 g aqueous extract.

Safety & Contraindications

Not covered. “Health hazards not known with proper therapeutic dosages”. Isolated furan can cause lung lesions in animals, grazing cattle may develop emphysema. Perillaldehyde may be mutagenic, perilla ketone may be edemagenic. Methanol extracts are sedative perhaps due to the combined effect of perillaldehyde and stigmasterol. The ethanolic leaf extract with the dihydroxyphenylethenyl esters of caffeic acid at IC50’s 0.021–0.124 µg/ml, cf. allopurinol at 0.021.

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